


The Bird

by Shabby Abby (KJPearl)



Series: Hieron daemon AU [1]
Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Coming of Age, Gen, druid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 08:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14040012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KJPearl/pseuds/Shabby%20Abby
Summary: Kaja stopped changing forms the first time Fero did.





	The Bird

Kaja stopped changing forms the first time Fero did.

It had been a warm spring day in Rosemerrow and Fero had had a strange dream the night before. He could barely remember the details but he recalled the feeling of freedom and a comforting female voice.  She’d been explaining something, Fero thought, but he couldn’t quite remember her words. They were vague, drifting away with the dream, and Fero had been distracted even in the dream.

Distracted by the fact he had been… flying. Flying as a bird. His wings spread to catch the breeze and his wings twisted and turned along with the current. Kaja had flown beside him, in the form of a finch, and their joy had combined and multiplied as they spun around each other. Faster and faster and faster and dizzying.

Then Fero woke up, and he was still a bird. He gasped with the shock of realization and in his moment of shock he felt himself grow again into a halfling.

“What was that?” he whispered to Kaja, sitting up in his bed and reaching out a hand for her to perch on.

“We dreamed you were a bird. And then you were one,” she sounded just as shocked as he was.

“So I didn’t imagine that?” Fero joked.

“No.”

Fero sat silently, wondering.

“We should try it again,” Kaja finally said.

“Yeah,” he agreed, and with the thought of it, he was a finch like Kaja again.

“Do you think we could do another animal?” Kaja asked.

“Maybe," Fero thought for a moment, brow furrowing, "You should try turning into a cat, then I’ll just copy you.”

“Okay.” 

Fero waited for a second, then another, and nothing happened, “Kaja?”

“I- I can’t, Fero. I think we’ve settled,” Kaja’s voice trembled. 

They’d both dreaded settling. Being trapped in one body, with people assuming things about who they were, and all the baggage that came with it. The pressures of adulthood, the expectation that they would just start working at the farm and dreaming of the past like everyone else in Rosemerrow.  The idea that just because Kaja looked the same, Fero would stop changing things, stop hoping, stop dreaming. 

“Maybe,” Kaja broke their moping, “Maybe you can still change.”

So Fero tried again, and as easy as breathing he was a cat, soft fur and padded paws.

“Guess we traded,” he meowed at Kaja, knowing she would understand him regardless of language. In quick succession he turned into a horse, then a wolf, then a bird again.

“Is this how it always felt for you?” he asked wonderingly.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry you’re trapped now.”

“But I’m not!” she exclaimed, “I can’t be, because we’re the both of us Fero. You can still transform. And I’m a bird. I can fly anywhere. We don’t have to stay here, Fero! We can fly away! Together!”

“Oh. Kaja! Of course! Fero let out a helpless laugh as he flew towards her.

They flew out the window together later that day. Headed for somewhere new.


End file.
